ARC Review: Bookishly Ever After by Isabelle Banderia



Title: Bookishly Ever After
Author: Isabelle Banderia
Series: N/A, Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Publication Date:  January 12th 2016
Pages: Kindle, 350 pages
My Rating: 4 Stars
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In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?

  I was given an ARC by the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. 

  Thank you so much for granting my wish, Netgalley! :)

  When I first read that the main character of this book is a bookworm, I immediately wanted to read it because I knew I would be able to relate to the main character and I'm such a sucker for contemporary romance novels. With a bunch of bookworm references, this is a book that bookworms anywhere are sure to enjoy.

  There are just so many things about this novel that appeals to me and my inner bookworm. First, I love light and fluffy contemporary romance novels that are a breeze to read. Second, I also love yarns but I crochet instead of knit. Third, I love all the bookworm references. Fourth, I can relate to Phoebe so much. Fifth, I love the flow and pacing of the story. Sixth, I love the family element - she wasn't super close to her parents and sister, but they were just close enough. Plus, I think that it was so cute how her dad was reading while she practiced archery. Lastly, I love all the friendships in the book.

  This book is definitely a break from the usual book patterns in romance novels wherein the characters would be together towards the middle of the book, and then drama comes, an finally, happily ever after. I'm glad that there's no drama in this book because it's such a nice break but I kind of also wanted more towards the end of the novel.

  The last line of this book is one of my favorite last lines ever! It was just so cute and I actually laughed out loud because it's a sentence that I'm very familiar with, and just imagining the situation was just too cute!


"Just one more page."

  However, I don't know if it was just my copy or something, but I had a really hard time reading this book since I think there were some missing words in some parts and there were some jumbled phrases. I still think the book is awesome, but it definitely affected my reading experience. I also didn't like how much references there were to other characters. I mean, I get those references because I do that too sometimes, but at some point I just felt like they were too much.

  Overall though, I really, really enjoyed this book and I would love more books from the perspective of bookworms, just like Katie (?) from the Lux series. Even though there were some things that I didn't like, those were just minor details for me compared to the whole picture.


4 just-one-more-page-of-book-boyfriend-goodness stars


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